


The Prodigal Knight

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Intersections [13]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo Lives, Canon Compliant, Forgiveness, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Related, M/M, Part of the Intersections Series, Past Gaslighting, Past Rape/Non-Con By Palpatine, Past Surprise Incest, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Reconciliation, Redeemed Ben Solo, Resurrection, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious Being an Asshole, Survivor Guilt, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:00:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27906370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Ben Solo is resurrected after Exegol, and he only wants to see Poe.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Intersections [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2025694
Kudos: 3
Collections: Bad Day Collection





	1. Mended

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Call this me working on this thanks to my own issues. Title another KOTOR quote because reasons.

The netherworld of the Force. Ben had never thought that he would end up here, but here he was. And here —

He didn’t think he’d see Tai again. Tai, who he hadn’t killed but failed to save from Ren. And...

”You’re here,” he said. 

“We were waiting for you,” Tai said. “I just didn’t think you’d arrive so soon.”

***

Even as Ben listened to his parents talking in a facsimile of a chamber in hushed voices, it was Voe who came up to him. Voe, beautiful and righteous and so very full of spark. Even after all this time. “You killed me, you know,” she said. “Just stabbed me without even making an attempt to turn back. Not to mention the way you just violated so many people’s freedoms. Force, even when I hated you, I didn’t think you were capable of being a fascist.”

”Voe,” Tai began. 

“Tai, don’t. He’s a murderer. Sacrificing his life for some girl with a stupid crush on him isn’t gonna change that.”

”You are right,” Ben said. “I...thought so much that I was doing the right thing. I was wrong, Voe. I thought in life I was certain, but in death...I’m lost."

Voe looked at him, almost like she wasn’t expecting that. That, of all things. 

Hesitantly, Tai stepped forward. They couldn’t touch, not really. Not when they were merely luminous beings. “Not lost,” he said. “I said in those vaults that you did have a choice.”

”There was a moment...” Ben hesitated. “There was a moment when I wanted to turn back. And then Ren — oh Force, Tai, he just snapped your neck. You didn’t do anything and he just killed you. I...I knew what it was like just to have that piece of the Dark Side. I knew.”

”So you killed Ren,” Voe said. 

Ben nodded. 

“I...I guess me snapping at you for killing him didn’t really make sense,” Voe said. “Just...you didn’t have to kill me. I did expect better of you, Ben...”

“You?”

”Yeah,” Voe said. “You were as irritating and persistent as a flightsuit rash, but...I didn’t think you were a murderer."

Ben supposed that he would take it, for what it was worth.

***

It was both his parents who emerged. “I didn’t think Anakin,” Leia said, and Ben didn’t miss how she didn’t even so much as call Anakin “father”, “Would actually argue on your behalf. Something he should have done long ago. Bastard wasn’t there for you before.”

”I didn’t deserve it,” Ben said. 

Leia winced. “Ben...you did. You deserved someone who could fight for you. Who’d set Snoke and Palpatine on fire for daring to touch you. And he didn’t. Like he thought he was redeemable, but not you. Even though he did worse than you ever did.”

”I’m not sure,” Ben said. 

“I am,” Leia said. “I didn’t die just so you could. So Palpatine could get his revenge.”

”But I did this.”

”You caused pain and endured it all at once, Ben. It’s not incompatible, Ben.”

”No.” Ben thought of Anakin in that moment, despite himself. “It isn’t.” A beat. “I can’t go back to Poe. Rey...she kissed me. I...I wasn’t really into it; I was just glad that my Force healing worked — ”

”Rey’s your cousin.”

For a moment, Ben could swear that this was the part in so-called comedic holos where the background music screeched to a halt. “Wh-what? Cousin? Palpatine never said — ”

”But he did.” Shmi Skywalker stepped forward, just then. "Palpatine...I said there was no father. In a way, it was true. They couldn’t find a DNA test for your grandfather when I tried to test it...at least with the best tools there were for slaves on Tatooine. It was only after my death that I learned Palpatine essentially raped me. There’s more ways to impregnate someone than just a penis, after all.”

”And Snoke..."

”Your great-uncle,” Leia said. 

“...so Palpatine raped my great-grandmother using the Force, my great-uncle abused me during my training, and my cousin kissed me.” Ben said flatly. He didn’t miss how Leia actually did wince in that moment — wince with barely held back rage. “Maybe Palpatine cursed us all.”

”Maybe,” Shmi said. “I loved your grandfather. What Sheev did...it wasn’t Ani’s fault. Just because the father’s a monster doesn’t mean the child will be.”

Ben nodded. “And Rey...just because her grandfather was a monster doesn’t mean she was. Force...maybe I do need to go back. For Poe, and for her. I mean, Poe lost his lover and Rey lost the last of her family — lost her family all over again. But...how?”

”Force mumbo jumbo, kid,” Han said. 

“Dad?"

Han walked towards Ben, as real and warm as he had been at Kef Bir. "What can I say,” he said, “All that stuff about only Force users getting an afterlife? Bantha shit.”

”Han,” Leia scolded, but there was a note of affection in there. 

“I told you.” Luke walked forward. It was then that Ben realized how different he looked. A scruffy Obi-Wan type, if Obi-Wan hadn’t bothered to take care of his beard. 

Ben wanted to hurt him. And yet hurting him — he swore that he was possibly kicking a hound that had been kicked too many times. Luke just looked tired. 

“Leia and I didn’t bring you back to the Light so you could die like this,” Luke said. 

Silence. For a moment, Ben couldn’t think. Then, “...what.”

***

Luke spoke. “I was trying to redeem myself,” he said. “Crait was based on a lie. The lie that I wasn’t too weak to stand up to Palpatine. The night I was in your hut...I remember I was asleep at first, in mine. But then I heard a voice, whispering to me — and my body...it didn’t feel like my own. It was like someone was moving it, like a marionette...”

"Uncle...” Ben was already putting the pieces together, and he didn’t like what he was hearing. What he knew. 

Had he...had he really been so cruel as to blame Luke for essentially being mind controlled? Mind raped? 

“I broke free in time, but I didn’t turn my lightsaber off.” Luke just looked exhausted. "And...”

”But you beat him,” Ben argued. “You not turning the lightsaber off — it was just bad timing. I misunderstood.” 

“I still let Palpatine mentally rape me...”

”Stop it,” Ben said. "No one ‘lets’ people do that. Uncle...you scared the monster. Scared him so bad he ran from you. Retreated into the shadows like a coward. If anyone’s the coward, it’s him.” A beat. “If I couldn’t resist Palpatine, how could you?”

“You...” Luke stared at him, clearly amazed. Then, “You believe me. Believe in me.”

”I should have long ago.”

***

More talks. Ben learned about his mother, too, how Palpatine had also been mentally assaulting her, gaslighting her when she tried to intervene with Ben's indoctrination. 

“If there’s a hell, I hope Palpatine burns there,” Han growled, and Ben couldn’t disagree. Even Voe looked...well, she looked horrified. Horrified, and remorseful. 

“I just need to do something,” Luke said. “To defy Palpatine. I need to do this. We do. We’re bringing you back.”

”How?” Ben said. “Besides, who would want me back?”

”Poe. Rey. Lando. Qi’ra and Enfys. Just to name a few.” Leia said. “Ben...we were helpless and afraid against Palpatine. We can’t be that any longer. Let us help you."

***

Ben said yes, if only to right the wrongs he did. To see Poe again. And Rey. Even as Leia placed a hand to Ben’s cheek, Luke reaching out towards Ben with one hand, Ben swore he could feel the impression of her love for him, even if he couldn’t actually feel her touch.

”Mom...” Ben said. 

Leia’s smile was warmer than Ben had ever seen it. “You know what you have to do, Ben. Now, do it.”

“Look to the light, Ben,” Tai said. “Leave the dark in the past. Goodbye.”

”Tai — ”

The netherworld of the Force faded away from mist to blinding light —

— and then solidness. 

Ben never thought he’d be happy waking up naked on cold stone. 


	2. Transmissions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben prepares his journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

There was something about just finding clothes that felt like a big step. Ben didn’t like the idea of basically stealing Sith cultist robes from Exegol, but even so, it was the best thing to do just to cover up the fact that he was naked. 

(He wondered, idly, if there was some sort of symbolism to the fact that he was effectively reborn naked)

He was alive. Alive...and he had to live with what he had done. He had been so certain when he was Supreme Leader. So certain that he was keeping Poe safe. Now...now he just knew that he was lost. 

Even the Dyad with Rey was broken. It was a strange feeling, like an amputation before the prosthetic, when the pain was still very much raw. It struck Ben that everyone he cared about was, simply, gone. 

“ _We’ll always be with you._ ” Leia’s voice. “ _We’ll be at your side, even when you can’t see us.”_

Ben smiled, if faintly. That was true enough. And his actions — the best he could do was actually atone for them. After all, what else could he do, but just make up for it?

***

A Sith ship. Even stroking the side of it, feeling it humming and very much alive, Ben swore that he would never underestimate the value of touch again. To touch, to feel — even the cold was just more proof that you were alive.

He got in the ship, though not before retrieving his lost datapad. Not before typing out a short message to Poe. 

***

_Poe,_

_I’m coming home.  
_

_-Ben_


	3. Ascent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben comes back to Poe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Ben, 

You’re alive? It can’t be. Rey said she saw your body vanish. Things can’t possibly go right for me for a change. Please...it’s not funny. 

-Poe 

***

Poe, 

I’ll meet you and I’ll explain everything. I promise you. Where are you? 

-Ben

***  
Ben, 

I’m on Yavin. Rose Tico’s Chancellor now; I just wanted to be alone for a while. I can’t be who your mother wanted me to be. It almost set me up against you. I just can’t. I want to be myself, not a pre-ordained role. Even if I’m just a farmer on Yavin for the rest of my days...at least it’s my choice. 

I don’t know why Rey kissed you, though. I really don’t. 

-Poe 

***

Poe, 

It’s a long story, but Rey’s technically my cousin. Technically, I’m descended from Palpatine on my grandfather’s side. So...you don’t have to worry about that. Add that Rey was always more interested romantically in me than I was in her, and...yes. 

-Ben

***

Ben, 

That’s wrong. That’s so wrong. But also...did I mean anything to you? 

-Poe

***

Poe, 

In so many words, yes. 

-Ben

***

Yavin. Even as Ben docked there, he found that he had landed in the right place. Right where he belonged. Yavin. He could remember playing with Poe when they were still children, before everything had gone so very wrong. Before...

Poe stepped out of his house just then, and the way he looked: he was dressed in white. White shirt, black pants, a black scarf hanging around his neck. Kylo Ren’s scarf. He stood there, clearly disbelieving even as Ben drew his hood down. 

“You’re here,” Poe said. “You’re really, honestly here. You came back.” A beat. “I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but you’re not all blue and shimmery...”

Ben stepped forward. Held out his hand. Poe took it, just registering right now that there was warmth. Heat. 

“You’re here,” Poe said. “You’re...warm.”

”Of course I am. Poe, I’m sorry — I’m sorry for everything — ”

Poe cut him off by hugging him. It wasn’t a kiss of victory. It didn’t have to be. It was just a hug, and Ben held onto him, thinking that just for a change, just for once, the galaxy had been kind to them both.

”You’re forgiven, Ben,” Poe said. “All that’s done...you’re forgiven.”

***

”Where’s BB-8?” Ben said even as he walked in the house. 

“He’s off with Rey.” Poe’s voice actually did sound tighter now. 

“She stole your droid?”

”And decided that the best way to honor Luke and Leia was burying their lightsabers on Tatooine.”

Ben paused. Of all the exercises in poor judgment...

"Why?”

”She meant well,” Poe said. “And she’s just...tired. You know the feeling."

”You feel it too?”

”Too well. I was so used to doing what Leia wanted. And...I don’t want to do that anymore.”

”I never took you for a politician,” Ben said. 

Poe shook his head. “I’m not even a good leader, Ben.”

”Poe, I swear that if you talk negatively about yourself again...”

Poe laughed, suddenly. It was good to see, but confusing too. When Ben frowned, Poe said, “No, Ben — I’m just happy you’re still you.”

”Yeah.” All these parts couldn’t just be shut out. “I’m still me.”

***

Ben changed into pajamas that Poe lent him, and told him everything. Including about Luke. “More than anything, I’m sorry I ever called him a coward,” Ben said. “I was treating a mind rape victim like they were nothing.”

”Did you know?”

”No.”

”That’s the difference, isn’t it?” Poe said. “You didn’t know.”

”Yeah. Exactly. Still.” A beat. “And I never truly apologized for hurting you. I don’t know if we’ll live here forever, but I know that I’ll never let you go without knowing you’re loved. Without knowing you’re safe."

”You too, Ben. Really.” Poe looked so earnest. “I’ll never let you go without knowing my love again. Without letting you know you’re safe.”

***

Ben fell asleep against him then, and for the first time in a while, he felt like he truly belonged. 


	4. Different Kinds of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Poe contact Rey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Ben woke just then after a nightmare, snapping awake — and stars, even that part he swore he would never, ever take for granted. Because Poe was here, next to him, curled up beside him in a way that Ben swore that he didn’t deserve. It occurred to him that he had broken into Poe’s mind. Hurt him beyond measure. He had been forced, yes. Did it make any difference? 

Even feeling Poe sleeping beside him, Ben wondered if he really deserved Poe. This one man, this one, wonderful man who had survived everything thrown at him and come out so very strong. Who had been happy to see him. Happy. 

Ben didn't deserve this happiness. This man sleeping next to him. 

Poe stirred in that moment, looking up at Ben. “What time is it?”

”Zero four hundred,” Ben said. 

“Right. Early.” Then, “You look scared, Ben. Are you?”

”Maybe a little,” Ben said. “I never apologized proper for what I did to you.”

”Oh, Ben...”

”I know that Snoke was an influence. In a way,” Ben said. “But I never wanted to hurt you. You mean the galaxy to me, Poe. You don’t know how much. Everything I could want...” He smoothed away strands of black hair from Poe’s face. “It’s right here. With me."

”Yeah.” Poe smiled at him, irrepressible, all too bright. Then, more seriously, “We’ll have to tell the others."

”I agree,” Ben said. “I just wonder how I’ll be able to tell them. How I’ll be able to make up for what I did.” There was so much that he had to make up for. And almost everyone he knew was dead.

Almost everyone. 

Poe Dameron was very much alive. So was Rey, family he didn’t know he had. So was Lando, Qi’ra, Enfys...

They were alive. Very much alive. To think he had left them behind like that...

”I’ll help you, Ben.” A hand, running along the side of Ben’s face, where a scar should have been but wasn’t. “I believe in you. I love you.”

”You...believe in me?”

”Yeah,” Poe said. “More than anything.”

***

It was Ben who contacted Rey over the comm system on Yavin. “Rey,” he said, “I know you’re angry with me — ”

”You’re an idiot,” Rey snapped. “Making me lose my family all over again...did you even think?”

”I was trying to save you. Besides...if I’d lost my family too...”

Silence. Then, “I suppose. Is it true, that you...love Poe? I mean, I’m not gonna get in the way, but what do you see that I don’t?”

”He’s uncommonly kind,” Ben said. “It isn’t just how beautiful he is, though he always had the sort of beauty that would break my heart. He’s also kind. He loves people. He loves people so much he’d move the stars for someone he just met yesterday. He’s charming. Funny. He was the one that helped FN — Finn get his name. Though...that name wasn’t terribly creative.”

”I didn’t have time to think of something more creative!” Poe protested. 

Rey did laugh. It dawned on Ben that he had never heard her laugh. Then, “The way you speak of him...I’ve never heard you speak of anyone that way. Even your own family.”

Unwittingly, Ben remembered. Rey, in tears on the Supremacy, as Kylo Ren took her deepest insecurities and flung them at her. Exploited them. He had thought that he was doing what Snoke had, and Palpatine, and Ren. 

It dawned on Ben that Kylo had really become as vile as them. Or worse. At least Vader had offered something to Luke when he asked him to rule the galaxy with him. Kylo had offered Rey nothing. Nothing but insults and condemnation for something that turned out to be a lie anyway. 

_You really are a schutta, Kylo Ren_. 

“I know,” Ben said. “Kylo Ren was an idiot. A vicious idiot. I’m...trying at least to be better than he is. I was granted this second chance for a reason.”

Rey’s voice was wry — but a friendly wry. "You got wise during your time being dead.”

Ben did laugh. “Rey — it’s not the same as with Poe. But you’re my cousin. Practically family. I love you. You...mean the galaxy to me.”

He didn’t miss how Rey’s breath hitched, how she sounded like she was about to cry. “I love you too, Ben,” she said. “You mean the galaxy to me too."

***

They talked a while. Rey was planning on coming back from Tatooine — and she did acknowledge that burying Luke and Leia’s sabers in the desert might have been in poor taste considering the bad memories they had of Tatooine. 

“I think I’m done hiding in deserts,” Rey said. "I’m back where I started, and I don’t want to cut myself off when I’ve got the biggest family in the galaxy waiting back home. And...Finn.” A sigh. “I didn’t realize how much he meant to me...”

”He’ll be happy to see you,” Poe said. “I know it.”

***

It was after they ended the transmission that Ben turned to Poe. "I’m not neglecting you either,” he said. “I love you too.”

”I never thought I’d hear it from you again,” Poe said. 

Ben smiled. “You are. And I promise, Poe — I’ll never let you go without knowing it again.”


	5. Conversations With Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben takes Poe on an unconventional first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Wow, I haven’t updated this in a while.

The shadows of the room he and Poe shared...it was something that struck Ben as overwhelmingly domestic as he woke. Overwhelmingly normal. He couldn’t say that he had ever felt that in...well, a while, actually. When had he ever felt like he was home in...well, quite a while, actually? 

Poe was still asleep. There was something about watching him that was enough to give Ben a strange sense of peace, of purpose. He knew that it was more than he deserved. Truly. 

Poe stirred, kissed Ben’s cheek lightly. Even that simple brush of Poe’s lips against his cheek...

”I can’t help but think that we’ll have this all yanked away,” Ben murmured. “I can’t help but think that we’ll lose everything.”

”We won’t,” Poe said. “I’ll fight for you. I love you and believe in you, Ben.”

Ben smiled faintly. “I thought so." Then, “We’ve got a while before Rey comes back. I don’t think we ever got to do anything normal. Not really.”

” ‘Normal’ is pretty relative, love.”

Ben couldn’t stop the way his heart skipped a beat just at the way that Poe said that simple word. _Love_. 

“You look like a gizka in the headlights,” Poe said. 

“Well, yes. The fact that this beautiful, wonderful man is telling me all this...”

Poe smiled. “You’re beautiful and wonderful too, Ben, you know that?”

He leaned in just then and kissed Ben, a hand caressing the side of his face where the scar used to be. Ben found that he didn’t mind at all. Not really. He didn’t mind that the scar was healed. It spoke of something deeper, something better hidden, but no less powerful. 

***

”We could go on a date,” Ben said. “Just the two of us.” Then, “We didn’t really get to go on a date together. Not while...”

 _Not while that was going on_. 

“That’d be something. What are you thinking?”

Ben thought, and then an idea struck him.

”There’s a place,” he said. “A place we haven’t gone in a long time.”

***

Even stepping outside the house, Poe looked up at Ben, filled with the utmost certainty and trust. Then, “Lead the way, Ben.”

***

”The Force tree?” Poe said. 

“Yeah.” Ben looked at Poe. “I remember we used to climb it. Or try climbing it. So many memories, so long ago.”

”I didn’t think I’d come here, again,” Poe said. “I...guess that people didn’t do everything right in your childhood, but...”

”They did fine,” Ben said. “We had our ups and our downs. I’m still glad to have had them. Including you.” Then, “Put your hand to the trunk.”

Poe did. Ben could remember taking him there, after Poe had come back from Kijimi, and that had been where Poe had connected with his mother’s spirit. Found closure. 

“There’s definitely people I still want to connect with,” Poe said. “Snap...he died at Exegol. It’s like if I care about someone...”

 _Something bad happens to them_. 

“Poe. My dear Poe. It’s because you care about everyone,” Ben said. “It’s your spirit. Your heart. And everyone dies. Death is just part of the cycle. The circle of life.”

“But you came back.”

”I suppose,” Ben said, “Nothing about my journey could be considered conventional.” Then, “You can see him, you know. Snap. Just think about what you want to see, picture it in your mind and in your heart.”

***

 _Hey there, Black Leader_. 

Poe turned around. He would recognize Snap’s voice anywhere. And there was Snap, bearded and hearty as he had been in life. 

“Snap,” Poe said, softly. “You’re here.”

 _The Force Tree apparently does funny things_. 

“Yeah. Apparently.” Then, "Snap...I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should have been able to save you.”

 _You did good, Black Leader. It was a good death; I just regret leaving Kare behind. But going out like my mother, saving people — there’s worse ways to die._ Then _, He treating you well?_ Poe didn’t miss the distrust in Snap’s voice. Just to put it mildly. 

“I’m trying,” Ben said. 

_You better be. I’ll haunt your former Supreme Leader ass if you’re not._

“Noted,” Ben said. 

Snap turned back to Poe. _Whatever you do, don’t blame yourself. I lived a full life, Poe. No regrets. Only tell Kare that she’s always meant the galaxy to me_. 

“You can tell her yourself,” Poe said. “If you want to.”

 _Sure thing, Black Leader_. 

***

Holdo showed up, not long after Snap had disappeared. Poe stared, doing a double-take at the shimmery blue glow that surrounded her. Then, “Vice Admiral?”

”None other,” Holdo said. “Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I can’t bother you a bit.” Then, “I don’t blame you for what happened, Poe. Leia told me that you were blaming yourself for my death.”

”She’s perceptive,” Poe said. 

Holdo sighed. “It’s terribly vain to think I died because of you. I would have done it regardless of if things had gone according to plan. When I sacrificed myself, it was my choice. Mine alone. I did it to save the Resistance. I can’t say I entirely succeeded, but...here I am.”

”You did good,” Poe said. “You took a chunk out of the First Order, I know that.”

Holdo nodded. “I should have told you everything was under control,” she said. “I suppose that I was blinded by anger.” A beat. “That surprises you, General Dameron? It surprises you that a Vice Admiral can make mistakes? Paige Tico was like my daughter.”

”Oh stars...”

”Grief can be a funny thing,” Holdo said. “I needed a target. Someone to blame. There’s nothing rational about grief, no matter who feels it. But in my grief, I disrespected Paige’s sacrifice. It was her choice, and hers alone. She was always brave. Always caring.”

Poe blinked. Then, “She was my friend,” he said. 

“And I never knew her,” Ben said. “But she sounded like a good woman.”

Holdo nodded. “She was. She still is. She doesn’t hate you, Poe. Even when she died, she died relieved that she kept the Resistance safe.”

Paige’s spirit appeared then. Less solid than Holdo’s, but there nonetheless. “If I have one regret,” she said, “It was not getting to tell Rose goodbye. Or Jess. I loved them both.”

”I know,” Poe said. Then, “So...”

”You’ve gone through pain and caused some,” Holdo said. “Just look towards the light. Leave the darkness behind. Only forge beauty from it, what you can repair.”

It made sense. Even though Poe had been rooted in this pain for so long, he could feel that, finally, he could be free of his guilt. 

Paige smiled. “Goodbye, Poe,” she said. 

The ghosts vanished. Poe was left, blinking. 

***

”Ben...thank you.”

Poe took a while to speak, but he finally found his words. 

“Did it help?” Ben said. 

Poe sighed. “It gave me a lot of peace, definitely. I feel fine. I feel free.”

”I wanted to give you freedom,” Ben said. “Give the bird room to spread his wings, instead of being trapped in a cage of his own making.”

”My own making.”

”Of course. The cage is in your head. It doesn’t make it any less real."

Poe swallowed, just then. Then, “I’m tired of the cage.”

”It’s there,” Ben said. “All those bars — they’re your guilt. Your regrets. I’d do anything to break them down.”

Poe smiled, if faintly. “I thought you would.”

A flower fell from the Force tree. Ben looked up, marveling. “It’s in bloom,” he said. “Last I saw it, it was barren.”

He placed the flower in Poe’s hair. Poe wrinkled his nose in amusement. “You’d really...”

”Call it a lesson,” Ben said. “A reminder that no one’s really gone.”

Poe didn’t know what he had done to deserve Ben’s devotion. He really didn’t. He was just glad he had it. 


End file.
